Promises

“Oh, look, Howard,” I said as I pointed out the car window. It was a beautiful rainbow! A few drops of rain had begun to fall as we left the church, and now we were surrounded by heavy, dark clouds, except for a clearing in the west where the sun was breaking through. There had evidently been rain nearby, for the wind had been blowing up a storm all evening, tantalizing us with the hopes of relief from our heat wave. An elderly lady in church had even asked that we pray for the rain to fall, which we did. And now it was forthcoming.

“It’s not just one rainbow, it’s two!” I exclaimed as another multi-colored bow shadowed one end of the first one. In the vast sky over the great plain, it was possible to see the complete rainbow from beginning to end arched against the grey cloud backdrop. The rainbow. God’s promise that a flood would never destroy the earth again. It has become a symbol of promise.

I saw a Joel Osteen sermon last night on the promises of God. It was called “Putting God in Remembrance,” based on Isaiah 43:26, which says, “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” Joel said that we should remind God of His promises, even stating the verses, such as, “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children,” Isaiah 54:13. Or Proverbs 31: 28, “Her children shall rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”

Pastor Osteen gave the example of his little girl, who had persuaded her father to take her to Disney World. When he agreed, she said, “You promise?” So he promised. Then every day the child reminded her daddy of that promise, until he was so weary that he finally took her on the trip. (He compared it to the unjust judge in the Bible which Jesus told of in Luke 18:2, who was wearied by a widow’s constant coming until he granted her desire.)

There are countless promises in the Bible, and of course, God remembers every one of them. It would seem that by recounting them to God, we are increasing our own faith and claiming the promises as our own. We prayed in faith believing for rain last night (unlike the story of the church who met to pray for rain and they all wore sunglasses, except for one child who brought an umbrella!). And the rain came. There was at least an inch of water in our wheelbarrow this morning, and the parched grass looks green and refreshed today, as green as the stripe in the rainbow!